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(N0 Model.) C AUTOMATIC LUBEIOATOR EUR STEAM ENGINES.

Patented May 19, 1885.

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UNTTEDl `STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES COUSE, OF BELLEVILLE, NEV JERSEY.

AUTOMATIC LUBRICATOR FOR STEAM-ENGINES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 318,168, dated May 19l 1885.

Application tiled October 23. 1884.

To LZZ whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES CoUsE, o Belleville, in the county of Essex and State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Automatic Lubrica-V tors for Steam-Engines, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

This invention relates to lubricators or lubricating-cups in which the oil is arranged to rise and is transmitted by drops through a volume or body of water; and the invention is designed to be applied to supplying the steamcylinder, steam-chest, or other steam-ways of an engine with oil in small or measured quantities, to mingle with the steam and so to lubricate the piston, valves, or other steamexposed parts of the engine. It is mainly intended for use in marine engines, which, by the rolling or tossing of the boat, are subject to considerable motion, and where there is always more or less of wiredrawing of the steam. It may be used in connection with steam of both high and low pressure, and the draft upon which is either steady or irregular-that is, either uniform or off and on. A leading object of the invention is to avoid all premature evaporation of the oil and consequent choking of the cup by its mixing with the steam therein and the foaming incidental to such mixing. To this and other ends the invention consists in a novel method and certain constructions and combinations of parts, including a single valve of a needle form or character, whereby the oil, instead of being allowed to evaporate in the cup, is flushed therefrom by the water of condensation of the steam, the size of the rising drops of oil may be regulated at pleasure, and the oil is prevented from coming in contact with the sides of the glass tube or duct through which it rises, and said tube thereby kept clear for observing the action of the lubricator, substantially as hereinafter described.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, in which similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the figures.

Figure l represents a vertical section of a lubricating cup embodying my invention; Fig. 2, a horizontal section of the same on the line w w in Fig. 1; and Fig. 3, a vfront view, in part.

' cle A over a valve-seat, e, thereon.

(No model.)

A is the oil-receptacle, provided with alling-plug, b, and emptying-cock c. Arranged above this receptacle,and connected therewith by a pipe or pipes, cl, leading down to near the bottom of the receptacle,is an upright condenser, B, within which is a stand or overflow pipe, C, arranged to project to a given altitude therein. This pipe C connects at its lower end with an enlarged and spread or tapering shelllike horizontal duct, D, the front or outer end of which is intended to connect with the valvechest or other steam-space of the engine. Said duct D also connects by a glass tube, E, open at its upper end, with the top of the recepta- A conical valve, G, is arranged to fit or work within-this valveseat from below, and is provided with a needle, f, which projects centrally up within the tube E. The stem of said valve is extended downward through the bottom of the receptacle A and stuffing-box at such point, and is provided with a screw-thread, g, ar ranged to work in a screw box or projection, h, to allow of the adjustment of the valve, as required. The duct D is constructed in its base with a longitudinal inner groove or channel, i.

Supposing the receptacle A to be charged with oil, k, and the lubricating-cup to be connected by its iiushing-duct D with the engine, as described, steam passing along said duct will be condensed therein and in the condenser B, and in due course will cause the transparent tube E to be filled, and the condenser up to or slightly above the level of the pipe C, and the duct d and lower portion of the receptacle A to be charged with the water of condensation Z from the steam. The valve Gbeing adj usted as required,the oil will be passed in small quantities through the valve-seat and up the needle f, and be delivered n drops at intervals from said needle7 and rising through the water in the tube E will settle or be delivered in the groove or channel i in the bottom of the duct D, from whence it will be iiushed along with and by the water of condensation from the condenser B into the valve-chest or other steam-space of the engine. rIhis iiushing prevents evaporation of the oil within thecup or till it reaches its place of discharge, where it will be volatilized or made to mingle with the steam and so be transmitted to lubricate the steam-exposed working parts of the engine, as required. The needle-valve G f serves not only to regulate to the greatest nicety the size or" the drops of oil delivered from the point or outer end of the needle, and so to control the supply of oil to the discharge-tube of the lubricator, but, by the oil hugging the needle, the transparent tube E will be kept from being tarnished by the oil, which will be restrained from coming in contact with the sides thereof, thus keeping said tube clear to observe the working of the lubricator.

A lubricatingcup constructed as described is what may be termed self-adjusting,7 or has a balancing'action as regards the supply'and demand. It will work under all pressures, any variation in pressure not affecting the action of the cup, inasmuch as the feeding of.

the oil is not dependent upon the pressure of the steam, but upon the head of water in the pipe d, or pipe d and condenser B. rPhe cup will commence working as soon as the tube E aud pipe d become charged with water, and even before the condenserB is so charged, the Condensation in the duct D then serving to effect the necessary flushing, which the overflow from the condenser B will afterward assist and keep up. The horizontal groove z' in the duct D causes the oil to have only a very narrow top surface exposure to the steam, which will restrict the evaporation of itin the cup.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent- 1. The method herein described of passing the oil from the lubricating-cup to mingle with the steam in the engine where the oil is required to be used, which consists in flushing the oil from the cup by waterof condensation as derived from the steam, substantially as and for the purposes specified. A

2. The combination, with the oil-receptacle A and the tube E, arranged to connect with an upper combined steam-passage and oil-discharge duct, and provided with a lower valve for the admissionof oil, of the elevated condenser B, having a stand or condense-watersupply pipe in connection below with said steam-passage and oil-discharge duct and a duct or pipe extending from said condenser down into the oil-receptacle A, essentiallyl as described.

3. In an automatic lubricator, constructed to operate substantially as described, the combined steam-passage and oil-discharge duct D, of tapering or Vspread construction and provided with a lower longitudinal channel or groove, z, whereby said duct serves both as a condensing device and ushing passage for the oil, substantially as described.

4.. The combination of the oil-receptacle A, the condenser B, iitted with a stand or overow pipe, C, the duct d, the transparent tube E, with its adjustable needle-valve G f, and

the duct D, provided with a lower longitudinal passage, i, substantially asshown and described.

CHAS. COUSE.

Vitnesses:

A. GREGORY, C. SEDGWIOK. 

